I attended a meeting with representatives of the Housing Association movement in the South east on Tuesday.
I urged them to offer more affordable homes for sale, and more shared equity properties, as many people seeking a home would like to be owners or part owners if at all possible.
Ownership is the preferred tenure for most people. It is good to be free to alter, improve and decorate your home as you wish. It is good to look forward to your later life when you will be able to live in your home free of rent or mortgage, or move to a more suitable property and maybe even release some capital.
Homes are now expensive in the Wokingham area. Young people seeking to buy either need help from Mum and Dad, or need to be on good incomes at a young age to make it affordable. It is difficult or impossible for those without such assistance. That is where the Housing Association movement, with access to state monies, can help. The Housing Association people present said they did understand the wish for more to own or part own, and said they were going to do more for shared ownership.
Wokingham Borough and West Berkshire do require affordable housing construction in new developments, recognising the problem.
February 6, 2015
Homes are in short supply therefore they be come expensive. What we do not need is millions more houses. We need millons less people. England was full up years ago, so the Lib-Lab-Tories, think it a good idea to let millions more in. Apparently it’s made England better. Good one.